Codeshare Flights to Help American Airlines and JetBlue Airways to Surpass Covid Breakthrough
Keeping pace with the rising trend of codeshare flights, the world’s largest carrier– American Airlines has announced plans to initiate a strategic partnership with JetBlue Airways. This partnership will encourage smooth connectivity in the Northeast and will give customers a wider choice in terms of both domestic and international networks.
The alliance agreement, which is a part of the partnership, lists various loyalty benefits that will improve the offerings of each airline in Boston and New York. Through an integrated network of codeshare flights, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways will give customers nonstop access to domestic and international destinations at competitive fares.
Speaking about the same, JetBlue’s Head of Revenue of Planning — Scott Laurence said, “JetBlue customers will have more routes and destinations to choose from through American Airlines. Together we will offer customers better options than either of us could alone. This partnership enables JetBlue to bring our low fares and great service to even more customers by expanding our presence in our hometown, growing relevance in Boston, and supporting our successful Mint franchise.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, airlines have borne the impact of drooping revenues. Consequently, some (including American Airlines) were forced to fire many employees due to the financial crunch. With codeshare flights, airlines get an opportunity to market increased frequencies which helps to attract potential business travellers. Therefore, this tie up will speed up the airlines’ recovery as the travel sector works on recovering from the losses incurred in recent times.
Earlier this year, American Airlines entered into a codeshare agreement with a West Coast carrier — Alaska Air. The recent alliance will give the former a stronghold against competitors like United Airlines and Delta AirLines. A similar kind of alliance was held between Northwest and Continental Airlines before being bought by larger airlines.
After the pandemic, this alliance will help American Airlines to add long-hail markets in Europe, India, Africa and South America. After tightening up its flexible booking policy in early June, the airline has eased it a bit to encourage people to travel. As per the recent update, any new paid ticket purchased by July 31, 2020 can be cancelled or exchanged without any charges in case the travel was scheduled prior Dec 31, 2021.
A spokesperson of American Airlines said, “We are always evaluating the marketplace and looking to provide our customers with the most flexibility for their travel plans during the Covid-19 pandemic”. In an interview with The Points Guy’s Founder Brian Kelly, COO of JetBlue — Joanna Geraghty said that flexibility will be a significant component of the future of air travel. As we move through this experience, it’ll be interesting to see how customers use change [policies] going forward. Longer term, it will definitely be part of the purchase decision”.
By providing flexible booking policies, adapting codeshare flights and following proper health and hygiene measures, the aviation industry can surpass the upheaval caused due to the pandemic in the long run.
